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Who's your favorite athlete? (for real, not sexually)


samhexum

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Alex Gordon Kansas City Royals

Jordan Larson - Nebraska and USA Olympic Volleyball

Barry Sanders - Oklahoma State and Detroit Lions

Kyle Korver - Creighton Basketball and various NBA teams

Dominique Dawes  USA Gymnast

Jackie Joyner Kersee - UCLA and USA Olympics Track and Field

Mary Decker Slaney - Colorado and USA Olympics

Carl Lewis Houston and USA Olympics

 

 

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On 9/13/2021 at 8:43 PM, samhexum said:

Did y'all notice how often the word LEGENDARY was used in regard to Giannis' playoff (and especially finals) performance?

Giannis Antetokounmpo not satisfied after winning NBA championship: 'I feel the same weight'

MILWAUKEE -- It's been a little more than two months since the Milwaukee Bucks won the 2020-21 NBA championship, but star Giannis Antetokounmpo still wants to maintain the chip on his shoulder that helped bring them that title.

"Are we satisfied? I'm not satisfied. I'm not even close to being satisfied," Antetokounmpo said at his season-opening news conference Monday. "That's the tone we got to set as a team. As the leader of this team, that's the tone I'm going to set. We understand that teams are coming for us, but we're going to be ready."

Antetokounmpo expressed a similar refrain along with the rest of his Bucks teammates. They will open training camp this week ready to turn the page from last season and focus on defending the franchise's first title since the 1970-71 season.

So while Antetokounmpo spoke fondly about bringing the Larry O'Brien trophy home the night after the NBA Finals, carrying it through the drive thru at Chick-Fil-A and taking it with him to Greece this summer, he didn't want to spend much time Monday afternoon focusing on last season.

"Right now what I want is to get better," he said. "I don't care about trophies. I don't care about the MVPs. I don't care about Defensive Player of the Years. All those things, I don't care. I care about getting better because if I do that more things are coming.

"That's what I've done my whole career and that's how I am in this position. So, there's no weight off my shoulder, I feel the same weight. I enjoy, obviously, that we're the champions, but the weight is the same. Get better."

Perhaps that is the most intriguing prospect for the Bucks and Antetokounmpo heading into the season: the obvious ways they can still improve.

Already a two-time MVP and Finals MVP, Antetokounmpo became animated when talking about building off his performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, especially when he knocked down 17 of his 19 free throws to help seal the win. "Life would be good if I could do that," he said with a laugh. He also pointed to his five blocks in the Finals clincher and said he wants to try and maintain that effort level on defense on every possession this year.

 

"I want to make free throws, I have to make free throws," Antetokounmpo said. "In order for us to win that game, I had to make free throws, and there's going to be a lot of big games where I have to make free throws. I have to get better in that area. If I could take one thing from that game, it's probably that and the blocked shots. I was chasing everything."

Antetokounmpo pointed to the ways in which some of the great players in NBA history have continued to "flip the script" as he put it, casting themselves as the underdog. Whether it be Shaquille O'Neal using an imagined slight by David Robinson as motivation to dominate the Spurs whenever he got the chance to play against him (O'Neal later apologized for making up the story) or the plethora of things Michael Jordan "took personally," Antetokounmpo has taken note of the ways the greats have continued to stay motivated.

"We know we were the 2021 NBA champs, but right now we're just the Milwaukee Bucks again that nobody believes in us," he said. "And nobody believes that we can do it again."

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ESPN.COM had 5 of their basketball experts do a roundtable of the most memorable aspects of 2021 and what to expect in 2022. Do you notice a theme in their answers for the following question?

What was the most memorable on-court moment of 2021?

Collier: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game-saving block on Deandre Ayton in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. This is the play that best encapsulates what a generational talent Antetokounmpo is and what a special performance he delivered throughout the 2021 NBA Finals. His performance overall to clinch Game 6 is legendary, but for a single moment, Antetokounmpo pulled off something few players in league history could, guarding Devin Booker on a pick-and-roll, then recovering for a game-saving block on an alley-oop attempt by Ayton. This play will live on highlight reels for a long time.

Shelburne: Antetokounmpo’s 50-piece in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. I don’t often get emotional at games anymore, but when the weight of his journey from selling handbags on the streets of Athens, Greece, to NBA champion and Finals MVP culminated at that moment in Milwaukee, it was beautiful.

Bontemps: Antetokounmpo going for 50 points — including a 17-for-19 performance from the foul line — to close out Game 6 of the NBA Finals and deliver a championship to Milwaukee. It was the kind of iconic, all-time performance that we’ve seen so many great players have in those moments over the years, and allowed Antetokounmpo to move another level higher on the list of the elite players in the history of the sport.

Friedell: Antetokounmpo winning a title in Milwaukee. He has always said he wanted to win and stay in Milwaukee his entire career, and he made it happen. Through sheer will, he pulled the Bucks out of an 0-2 hole against the Suns and forever cemented his legacy. Regardless of what else he accomplishes in his career, Antetokounmpo’s accomplishment is a reminder that small-market teams can win if they have the right players around their star — and if they catch some breaks along the way.

Pelton: Jrue Holiday stealing the ball from Devin Booker in the closing seconds of Game 5 in the NBA Finals and lobbing an alley-oop to Antetokounmpo for the game-sealing and-1. I still can’t believe Holiday didn’t simply run the clock out in such a crucial situation, but I’m glad he didn’t.

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On 11/10/2017 at 5:42 PM, Unicorn said:

Any fellow Steph Curry fans?

Steph Curry continues to show that just about any shot from long distance is makeable -- no matter the sport.

Curry, who has made more than his share of highlight-reel shots during his NBA career, added to his legacy on the golf course Saturday with a hole-in-one at the American Century Championship celebrity tournament in Stateline, Nevada.

Curry, who led the event after the first round, sank his tee shot on the par-3, 152-yard seventh hole at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course -- the first ever on the hole during the American Century Championship.

 

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Free Giannis: The Marvelous Journey Screening Tickets (Prime Members Only)

 

Experience the thrill of an exclusive early screening! Amazon Prime members, grab your chance to watch the "Giannis: The Marvelous Journey" for free. Use the code for your theater:

AMC Theaters: AMCEARLY
Regal Theaters: RGLEARLY
Cinemark Theaters: CMKEARLY
Marcus Theaters: MARCUS

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On 2/10/2024 at 10:10 PM, Becket said:

Am becoming a fan of boyish faced Brock Purdy. 

 

On 2/10/2024 at 11:42 PM, samhexum said:

YOU MEAN THE SERIAL KILLER?!?!?

Brock Purdy didn't seem amused when asked about chatter online that he looks like Lee Harvey Oswald.

Brock Purdy gives blunt response after reporter's bizarre Lee Harvey Oswald question

On 2/11/2024 at 7:21 AM, Becket said:

On second thought, Brock Purdy looks more like Howdy Doody than Lee Harvey Oswald.

The (possibly) serial-killing Howdy Doody look-alike has married his high school sweetheart, who is a woman.  

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